Ashley & Dustin

2010-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Against The Odds from Empower African Children on Vimeo.

Cabbages and Kings

2010-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's harvest time in California! It is funny to me that we are harvesting vegetables when everyone else I know is living in amongst the frost. It makes me very grateful to be living in California. You will get here some day ma! Then we can harvest our vegetables together! :)

The first of the cabbages. I know, kind of a provocative photo. I can only imagine right?

The first of the carrots. They didn't get too big but they were sure delicious! To celebrate our first of the veggies Dustin decided to go Cajun and made us the most amazing Cajun king seafood boil, Crab legs and all! Though the only thing in this dish from our garden were the carrots they were the jewel of the feast! We truly were eating like kings!

We have yet to finish to cabbages off but Dustin plans to make some of these...

Stay tuned for our next garden adventure...

Proud of our Little Garden

2009-11-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

Since moving to L.A. Dustin and I have found little time to really relax. We are so busy with school that we hardly even get to see each other. There is one thing, however, we have found to relieve a little stress and that is gardening. I know, we sound like a little old man and little old lady, but really, it is so fun! You get to take a break, go outside, talk to your plants, feed them, eat them...

Our landlord was kind enough to let us use one of his planter boxes in his backyard (our front yard) to plant a garden in. We decided, being that it was too late for many vegetables, to start from seeds and look what has happened in only 2 months!

I would like to thank my mom for passing on her knowledge of gardening to me and also Dustin for all his hard work and research!

Collard Greens, sugar snap peas, cabbage, spinach, carrots, cilantro

These are our carrots, not quite ready to harvest yet but getting there

Our cabbage, I think the little head is kind of cute :)

Our peas. Delicious! The first thing we have actually been able to eat

This is my little hanging basket I started from a tiny little plant. It loves me. :)

A little fall fun!

2009-10-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

Riley's Farm to search for pumpkins. It was SO nice to get out of LA and into space! If you can't tell already, I am not the hugest fan of LA. It is ok, but man, it is sure nice to get out of the craziness.

This is our first time to the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood. For my birthday, Dustin took me to see John Williams and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra. They played many of his famous movie scores. It was pretty much amazing!

Our summer so far... continued...

2009-07-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday we got to go to the Comic Con convention downtown San Diego. It was pretty rad. We got tickets through a friend who attends Gnoman which is the school that Dustin will be attending come September. It is a 3D animation trade school right smack-dab in the middle of Hollywood. So yes, we will be moving to Hollywood. Me, on the other hand, have decided to also go back to school. Scary, I know! I have been accepted to Pepperdine graduate school in west L.A. where I will be getting my Masters degree in elementary education. Crazy huh! Anyway, we will be moving from San diego in the next 3 weeks or so. It is going to be really really hard for me to leave this nice, peaceful and beautiful place and go to a traffic ridden and crazy place. It will definitely be an adventure!

Ok, back to Comic-Con. So, we got these tickets from a friend but the catch was that we had to pass out flyers for the school from 8-12. It was definitely worth it.

The day we went was the Costume contest so we got to see some pretty crazy costumes. There were also several celebrities there from Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) to Leonard Nimoy (Spock). The artwork was amazing and it was really fun to see the displays of Star Wars, Transformers, Harry Potter, D.C. comics and more.

Here are a few things we saw:

Dustin posing with Heman. Personnally, I think he looks like he is doing a John Travolta disco move but Heman works too. :)

This guy was one of my favorites!

Look! It's Jan from Grease! She was so cute and smiled for me and then she did "brush um, brush um, brush um."

Darth was pretty sweet even though I think his helmet was a little large for the rest of him.

Here he is... the man himself, Mark Hamill. I don't know who the other guy is. One had to pay $40 to get an atuograph or picture. I was content with this. I guess I could photoshop my way in there.

This giy was pretty good. He even had the curl. I asked him if I could be Lois Lane.

This one is for my sister Aimee. The Tick Aim! :) He is our favorite cartoon character. If you have not seen him you are seriously missing out!

Spock himself! I think both Dustin and I were surprised to see him with out pointy ears.

Ok, this was sad...

You won't get these princesses at Disneyland.

They had to hugest crowd of men with cameras around them. I think Dustin took about 15 pictures of them... hum. Sleeping beauty was probably the worst!

All in all, this was awesome! I think Dustin and I are going to go again next year but dress up. If anyone has any suggestions what we should do I am up for anything, excepting the costumes in the above photo... ;).

Our summer so far...

2009-07-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

Let's play a little catch-up...

First off...

July 8th: Happy Anniversary to us! :) 3 years and still going strong!

We decided to spend our anniversary at the happiest place on earth! We both love Disneyland! We stayed in a hotel the night before and then spent all day until the doors closed.

We have a tradition of getting ice cream at the ice cream parlor on Main Street right before the fire works show. It is probably the most amazing ice cream in the world and they make the waffle cones right in front of you.

This picture is rather embarrassing but at least every one can see the happiness that ice cream and Disney Land give me! :) Thanks Walt!

Happy Anniversary Dusty! I love you!

Destination... Anywhere!

2009-06-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's time for another adventure...
So we decided to pack up and head out to Zion National Park and Moab. Dustin and I had been wanting to go to Colorado in the summer time for a while and decided to make it our final destination. I wanted to see my family and also see my brother Josh in The Wizard of Oz. He made the part of the scarecrow in a children's theater improv play. We will be seeing that this coming Saturday but I did get a sneak peek...

I think he is pretty much the best scarecrow ever.

Anyway, I will get more photos and a review following the play on Saturday.

On to what we have done so far...

First we camped out at Zion National Park.
Our favorite hike there was definitely Angel's Landing but the Narrows was pretty sweet too. In The Narrows you have to walk through varying depths of freezing cold water but it was pretty fun. Angel's landing is a straight up shot to a beautiful cliff that overlooks almost all of Zion. It is definitely not for those with a fear of heights. You do get to hike up some pretty sweet rocks while hanging on to chains.

Here we are right before the most intense part of the hike. We thought we were done and then we turned the corner and saw this:

It was such a gorgeous view when we got to the top, worth every effort.

Here is the view at night from our campsite at night. It was so peaceful and pretty.

The Narrows... was wet.

The next day we made our five hour drive to Moab.

It was like an adult jungle gym! We climbed all over.

Dustin with Delicate Arch. I almost felt like it was a celebrity.

Landscape Arch.

This it the last of our hikes at moab, Devils Garden.
Dustin discovered that it had an amazing echo effect so we decided to have a yodeling contest. We are dorks.

Here we are at the Double O arches. You can't see it but there is another mini arch right underneath the one you see here. This is why we are doing O faces.

The Devil's Garden

This is some random cave we found off to the side of the hike. Dustin called it the womb... maybe it will give me some good luck. :)

We were planning on staying in Moab another day but when we got back to our camp a sandstorm decided to erupt. So we got back in the car and made our way to Highlands Ranch. So that is where we stand now. We have had such a fun time being home so far. We have some fun plans coming up so stay tuned! :)

Napa...Continued...

2009-04-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again :)

Well, I promised the last couple of photos as well as a story so here we go...

First, let us begin with the story that could have been the end of ash 'n' dusty as we know it.
The Wagners, the wonderful family we were staying with in Napa, asked us if we wanted to take one of his buddies blow up canoes down a 3+ river. Dustin jumped on the opportunity right away. I was pretty excited about it too. I love white water rafting. I didn't really start having second thoughts about it until the day before we went. I think the fact that we were going to be going down a river that neither of us know, without a tour guide and in a tiny dinky raft really started getting to me. Ok let's pause for a second... I just want to make it clear that I was incredibly hormonal at this point. I won't go into details but I was, indeed, very unstable.

Anyway, so we start out... first thing, we get in the raft and it fills with water (I am pretty much cursing at Dustin in my head). So we blow up the raft a little more and get on our way. The first little rapid we go down Dustin smacks in the head with the paddle. That, as they say, was the straw that broke the camel's back. I burst into tears. It didn't even hurt that bad but I think I was so freaked out for my life in the first place that that put me over the edge (I hope you are laughing hysterically at me right now). Continuing down the river we go through the first BIG rapid and our raft folds in half...I lost it. Hyperventilating and all. I hated Dustin so much for torturing me like this. I made him pull over to the side so we could get onto dry ground while I blubbered away (I really am not usually like this I swear!) Dustin was very sympathetic and told me we would pull off before each rapid so we could check it out. That made me feel a little better. Anyway, to make a long story short, we kept going, I kept crying but we lived... barely. The last rapid known as "The Mother" could have resulted in a divorce except for Dustin allowed us to skip it. He must love me.

Alright, I am sorry I made you read all of that. But just so you can get a picture in your head here is the picture of the raft. Don't let the nice calm water behind Dustin decieve you.

And here we are the next day at a Padres vs. Giants game in AT&T Park. As you can see we are still friends. :) The Padres played terribly but it was a fun stadium and we always love supporting our team (my allegance is still for the Rockies however).

I love Napa!

2009-04-26T19:30:00.001-07:00

Updates! Dustin and I spent a marvelous 2 weeks in beautiful Napa Valley, aka Wine Country. We decided not to get drunk this trip, maybe next time. Instead, we took full advantage of our surroundings and recreation. We went hiking, mountain biking several times. We went sailing, almost died white water rafting, baseball (Giants vs. Padres) and ate great food! etc. etc. We were doing some kind of activity every day. It was awesome! We were able to stay with some family friends. I will have to say it is now one of my most favorite vacations spots.

The first of our hikes. It was probably the most intense of the trip. It was pretty much a continuous incline. What a tree hugger!

Easter Sunday! I have never gone an Easter without dying Easter eggs and despite Dustin's scroogey attitude towards Easter traditions he was kind enough to humor me and my inner child. He always does the cutest ones.

We couldn't go to Northern California without spending at least a day in San Francisco. We walked the entire city and pretty much saw everything you could see. We mapped out our mileage of how far we walked and discovered that our sore feet were well deserved. We walked a total of 13 miles.

Macy's was having their botanical gardens which is where the decorated the who store with beautiful flower creations. The flamingo was definitely my favorite.

We HAD to stop at Mrs. Fields for a cookie. The smell was too mouth watering to pass by.

Dustin and I love to watch Iron Chef and on a few episodes they have used Gooey Duck which, as you can see, is somewhat disturbing. It doesn't actually have anything to do with a duck, which I am sure you guessed. It is also known as a King or Elephant Trunk Clam. I would like to try tasting one one day. Personally I just think it looks like a nasty tongue.

We made the most awesome discovery ever while walking around trying to find find a park. We turned a corner and there sitting before us was a statue of the one and only Yoda. So of course we had to take a picture with him. Then, while Dustin was on the phone with someone, I decided to venture into some random building behind him. Lone and behold it was a George Lucas museum. We were in heaven. There were life size replicas of Darth and Bobo Fet as well as the lightsabers and a few other gadgets from the movies. It was the coolest discovery ever.

Dustin with Darth

Me, trying to be Bobo Fet

We also walked over to the planetarium where they have this beautiful architecture. It was like a Greek temple.

Our second hike... We made our way to a cave that had some serious graffity. Not as exciting as we thought it would be. There was, however, a perfect seat for Dustin to pose. A special prize for anyone that can guess who he is trying to be. :) What a dork.

Dustin, in training for the Strongest Man in the World competition.

One of my favorite adventures we had was the Jelly Belly Factory. We went right after our hike so that is why I look so retarded (besides the hat). :) It was so cute. We went around on a little tour and saw how they make the Jelly Beans. At the end of the tour they give us each a little bag of Jelly Bellys.

Look how happy Dustin was after we went. It was almost as good as Disney Land.

Dustin finally took me sailing! We found a little lake in the middle of Oakland that rented sail boats for a super good price. It was a beautiful day with a perfect wind.

Dustin was kind enough let me take charge for a few minutes.

Our last hike in Napa was amazing. Once we reached the top we could see all the way to downtown San Francisco. Gorgeous. We were so high we were looking down on the birds.

The last few days of our trip we went white water rafting and to a Padres Giants game. Pictures to come! I will have to explain all about the white water rafting trip when I post the pictures. I am surprised that one of us didn't ask for a divorce after that one...

Christmas at Home

2008-12-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Our new little nephew Luke. Probably the cutest Santa you will ever see.

Gingerbread houses are a serious tradition in our house. Dustin and I get pretty intense as we do with any kind of art project. I was pretty proud of our snowman.

Dustin... in deep concentration.

Noah and Jonah the elf.

No, I did not get Dustin a car track for Christmas but I do think he played it just as much as the little boys.

When my oldest sister Aimee returned home from England where she served her mission she brought home with her the very fun tradition of Christmas crackers. When we sit down to eat Christmas dinner we each take our cracker, cross one arm over the other and grab the cracker on each side of you. We then count to three and every one pulls the ends of the crackers. They all crack (literally) open and out fly all kinds of fun prizes. They usually consist of some kind of toy, a joke, a fortune and a paper crown.

It may look kinda dorky but we all wear our crowns while we eat dinner.

Even Daddy :)

It has become such a fun tradition that I hope to do it with my own family.

My favorite time of year!

2008-12-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!
Here is our Christmas tree. We decided to make all of our decorations for the tree. Dustin did a popcorn Garland and I make gingerbread men to hang. It turned out precious and was super cheap. I think we will do this every year.

Dustin and I are now in Colorado, one of the best presents ever, spending Christmas with my family. Yesterday we drove up to Boulder to see Josh whom is working as one of Santa's helpers in the mall up there. He is so cute! :) I don't think he or his wife knew what a task it is to be one of Santa's elves. He has been working there everyday of the week from 10 am - 11 pm for the last month and a half. We won't really get to see him at home until Christmas Eve night. Better late than never I guess.

More pictures to come! We are going sledding today with everyone then making gingerbread houses. I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!

Sleepy Hollow

2008-10-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

If anyone ever gets the chance to go Oak Glen to Riley's Farm I would highly recommend it! Dustin and I went with my mom, Adam, Chante and Merrick to Riley's Farm to see their production of Sleepy Hollow. We did it last year too and I think it is going to become a yearly tradition. It is so much fun and it was especially wonderful this year because my mom was in town to go with us.

Mama Pilk and Merrick with Ichabod Crane

Adam, Dustin and Merrick on our haunted hay ride!

Me and my mama

Check out how foggy it was! It was perfectly spooky!

They also have a pumpkin patch and orchards where you can pick our own apples. So fun!

Dustin and his albino pumpkin

Pie eating contest...

Mine and Dustin's pumpkin. Probably the cutest pumpkin ever carved. We totally should have won the pumpkin carving contest but some one decided to suck up to the judges and do a carving to the headless horseman. Check out the pictures below and let me know who you think should have won!!

Quarter of a Century!

2008-09-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Yes it is true! I am now a quarter of a century old! How depressing!! Not really... actually I had a wonderful birthday! :)

Thursday night my two wonderful girl friends, Alex and Kelly, took me out to dinner at a romantic location and then to one of my favorite movies, Chocolat, which was playing at this adorable outdoor theater in Hillcrest. We had so much fun! Thanks you Hood RATS! :)

On Friday Ryan treated us all to lunch at Panera and then cupcakes from the best bakery around. The bakery is called Elizabethan Desserts. If you have not been there I would HIGHLY suggest giving it a try. Their Diggity Dang and Grasshopper cupcakes is heavenly!

When I got home from work Dustin had all my presents wrapped and set out under our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Why were they under our Charlie Brown Christmas tree you might ask? Well, a few days before my birthday Dustin asked me if I wanted to open the present my mom had sent me. I said, "No, they all have to be wrapped and put under the Christmas tree and opened on the actual day or it is not as fun." I didn't actually mean I wanted my presents under a Christmas tree, but being the adorable person he is, he dug our little Christmas tree out of the garage and had my presents under it waiting for me when I got home.

My mom spoiled me and got me the most beautiful shoes from Anne Taylor. I recently was called as my ward's Primary President and she told me that I needed to look the part. Thanks Mama! :)

Lately I have also been feeling very homesick for Colorado since fall is coming so Dustin got me all kinds of fall smelling candles so that I can make my home smell like I am "home" in Colorado.

After we opened presents Dustin took me to a romantic dinner at Poseidon in Del Mar. It was the most perfect setting ever and the food was amazing!

Thanks Dusty! You made my birthday so wonderful!!

I love you!

Delicious!!

The HAPPIEST place on Earth

2008-09-06T21:49:00.001-07:00

I will have to admit that even though I look older... I am still a 10 year old girl stuck in a 25 year olds body. Disney Land is still one of my most favorite places on earth. It is a good thing I married another 1o year old stuck in a 27 year olds body. :)

Dustin and I took our day off on Labor day and went to Disney Land with Adam and Merrick. It was so fabulous! We got there early and stayed until they kicked us out at 11. I will never get sick of that place.

My most favorite ride by far!

Posing with Woody and Jesse

Riding on Casey Junior

Mawaige...

2008-08-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Daniel and Caitlin! They were married August 21 in the Salt Lake Temple. The ceremony was perfect and I have never seen a happier couple.

Papa and Mama Pilk

It is finally happened! All of my parent's crazy children are married and will never annoy them again! Ok... that is not true. Sorry mama, you will never be rid of us.

The bridesmaids

Sisters :)

My first wedding cake! It was definitely a stressful experience but I learned so much and would really like to do more... wink wink ;)

I didn't get exactly what happened but there was a lot of smearing and destroying of the cake involved.

Jonah, Noah and Sadie. Showing each of their personalities perfectly in this picture.

Sadie is currently obsessed with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella. She stole the show while at the family rehearsal dinner by singing "I'm Wishing" from Snow White. It was probably the most precious thing I have ever heard. She even did the "Ah Ha Ah Ha Ha" and the echoing from the wishing well.

It is tradition for Josh to write and perform a song at each of his sibling's weddings. It always leaves my family in hysterics and the new spouse's family confused and speechless.

The rehearsal dinner was at Rodizio Grill. It was amazing and the chocolate cake was pretty much to die for.

What a Precious!

2008-08-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

August 13 at 8:55 am Eden Elizabeth Pilkington was born. She was 7 lbs flat and probably the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. Chante is doing fabulously and Adam is now a proud daddy of two.

I think she was trying to get something here that I couldn't quite give her yet. :)

Dustin is going to be such a good daddy someday! ;)

Isn't she beautiful?

Camping in Palomar Mountain

2008-08-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Since we loved our previous camping trip so much we decided to go at it again over the fourth of July. We had so much fun together. Our campsite was beautiful, despite the fact we were in the middle of the ruins from last summer's fire. The only down side was the mosquitos! They were awful and of course we forgot the bug spray!

Here are some photos of the sadness :(...

On the 4th of July we went to Julian and got there just in time for their independence day parade... complete with Smokey the Bear. It was so fun! The costumes were amazing and the old fashioned down town was the perfect setting. We walked around town for a few hours and then treated ourselves to a famous Julian pie. I would recommend them to anyone! AMAZING!

Fun at the Fair!

2008-07-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Dustin and I went to the Del Mar fair with Adam, Chante and Merrick. It pretty much reminded me of the part in Charlotte's web when Templeton is singing about the smorgasboard of food. If you are the type of person who loves fried food this place is for you! Fried avocados, fried artichokes, fried twinkies, fried oreos, snickers, crispy cream doughnuts, cheeseburgers, etc. etc... It was pretty amazing.

We mostly hung out at the petting zoo. Merrick fit right in!

Merrick made a friend!

Dustin took these without Chante even knowing. If she wasn't pregnant it wouldn't have been too funny but we all found it rather humerous.

Get Er Done!

Adventure 2008 Continued...

2008-07-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well... I guess I have left you hanging long enough... I will finally finish our river rafting and camping trip in the Sequoias. The rest of our trip consisted of gorgeous scenery, HUGE trees, Amazing caves, beautiful waterfalls and GREAT food.

Don and Kathy showing their guns

The gang inside of a giant sequoia

General Sherman: the biggest tree in the world!

Don getting barreled

None of them were poisonous but we did see a number of snakes

Mist Falls... More like drench falls! You would get soaked if you were within 60 ft.

I was in deep thought

This is our Peter Pan Pose
"You can fly, you can fly"

Not quite getting barreled. I think I need to work on my form.

Indiana Jones? Definitely!

Our First Summer adventure for 2008!

2008-06-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Dustin and I have decided we want to run away to the mountains and live like hippies for the rest of our lives. He told me I could only wear a bear skin bikini though and that may get kind of chilly ;). He sent me this picture of Raquel Welch and told me this is what I would have to wear...

If I looked like Raquel Welch I think I would be perfectly fine wearing something like that...

Anyway, our first adventure of the summer (we plan to have many more) was perfect! We decided to go to the Kern river and go white water rafting and then camp in the Sequoias for a couple of days. We drove up to Kern River Thursday evening and stayed in the lovely Motel 8 where Paige (Dustin's youngest sister) commented that it looked like one of those places in Horror films where someone gets murdered... we all agreed with her.

We woke up early that morning and headed off to the river to go white water rafting. It was SO hot! Definitely 100 degrees or hotter which made it really nice to get wet. It was amazing! Our guide was an awesome old man named Darby who is a retired school teacher that pretty much knows EVERYTHING there is to know about the river and the area around it. I felt like I was back in elementary school getting a history lesson.

We all did pretty well on the river especially with two strong men at the front of the raft. ;) Kathy fell out once when we hit a little bump (it was not so little) and then Curtis fell out when we had to do a high side against a giant bolder! It was pretty intense! But besides that we were pro!

We got to jump off some cliffs which was pretty sweet. Darby also let us get out of the raft and float down some rapids, this was probably my favorite part.

Here is Dustin's famous Michael Jordan shot...

I didn't really know that the camera was right there but here I am posing for the camera. What a dork!

After rafting we drove up to our camp site in the Sequoias, AMAZING! ... to be continued!

Rico Suave

2008-06-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Travy!

Hi everyone!

I feel like it has been so long. I don't have much to write but I wanted to share a photo with you.

2 weeks ago my "brother" Travy got married. I call him my brother because I have known his since I was about 6 years old, he is Adam's best friend, and I love him! That counts as a brother right? Anyway, the wedding was beautiful and so much fun. It was up in San Juan Capistrano at this awesome place called El Adobe Capistrano. My parents and Josh and his wife Karen came from Colorado for the occasion. It was so fun to see them.

My favorite parts of the wedding were probably the food and the music (how shallow am I?). Our meal consisted of salsa and chips, salad with a lime vinagarette, and some of the best cheese enchiladas I have ever had.

Mama Pilk and Travy!

Being that Travis has the best music taste in the world the music he chose for the ceremony was so good. I asked him for the mix and he said he would post it on his website. If you have never been to this site you MUST go. It is http://www.indierockreviews.com/. He has a lot of free downloads and stuff on there too. Check it out!

Here is my new favorite picture of Dustin. I don't know if he was trying to hit on my old roommate Shardae or if he just thought he looked hot. You may have to click on the picture to get the full effect. :)

CONGRATULATIONS CAKIE!

2008-05-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been exactly a month since I have posted anything on this blog! I am such a slacker... sorry guys. I guess have been a little caught up in my foodie blog.

The Latest News...
My little sister Caitlin is getting married! The date is set for August 21st in the Salt Lake Temple. They are so precious together. The story how they met is actually pretty humorous.

Caitlin dated a boy, Bryn, off and on through high school until he went on his mission. They wrote each other pretty diligently through out the time he served in Georgia.
As soon as he got home Caitlin drove from Utah to Colorado to go to his homecoming. While she was there Bryn introduced her to one of his past companions, a strikingly handsome Brazilian named Daniel (oh la la). I do remember quite well her telling me how cute Daniel was but at the time she was still pretty into Bryn.
Eventually Caitlin and Bryn realized that they were good friends but that was about it. So they went their seperate ways, Bryn to Idaho and Caitlin to Provo.
However, Bryn decided to call his cute companion and tell him that he needed to take Caitlin out. And the rest is history. Everything was pretty much perfect from that point on.

'

Aren't they cute? :)

Strawberries for Merrick

2008-04-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago Dustin and I got kicked out of our house because it was infested with termites. Yeah, it was pretty disgusting. However, even though it was incredibly inconvenient it turned out to be completely worth it. We got to stay with my brother Adam, his wife Chante, and their son Merrick in Los Alamitos. Saturday we decided to go to a strawberry farm in Irvine. It was so fun! We got to sit in a little wagon pulled by a tractor while they carted us from crop to crop telling us about each one and allowing us to taste them. All I can say is I am never buying produce that isn't organic ever again. Everything they gave us to eat, even the onions, were amazing. We got sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, romaine lettuce, broccoli, and of course, strawberries. The strawberries were by far the most amazing things I have ever had! Each one tasted like it was coated with sugar inside and out! The funnest part was picking them and eating them right from the plant.

Has anyone ever read the book "Blueberries for Sal?" It was one of my favorite books when I was little. This whole berry picking adventure reminded me of that book... except for there wasn't a bear at the farm.

I think Merrick ate about 50 strawberries and Adam finally had to tell him no more. You can tell how much he loved them by the amount of strawberry on his face.

Probably the cutest picture ever taken!

Merrick ready to drive the wagon across the plains.

Loved the carrots!

Didn't love the onion so much... though he kept coming back for more.

Trying to look suave... holding an onion... doesn't work so well :)

I never thought I would actually bite into a raw onion by choice... I had onion breat the rest of the day.

Father son bonding.

Cute :)

He got one!

Dustin was determined to find the PERFECT strawberry. I think he found about 50 of them.

Best buddies!

Look at that face! :)

First Game of the Season

2008-04-04T23:33:00.001-07:00

I don't think it matters who the Padres are playing, whenever Dustin and I attend a game they lose. However, I will have to admit that even though Trevor pitched the worst game of his life this was the most fun I have had at a game. First of all the tickets we had were amazing!! We were on the first base line on the 12 row. Second, Dustin and I got our picture taken with the friar himself. He was very friendly. Third, I achieved one of my goals in life. I danced my way onto the Jumbo Tron! I looked up on the screen and there I was "twisting and shouting." I do think Dustin was a little bitter though because he got cut out.

I was at the store right before the game and spied "Big League Chew"! I haven't had it since I was about 10 years old so I had to get it. Dustin and I had a bubble blowing contest. You can be the judge who won. ;)

Happy Birthday Dusty II

2008-03-30T21:37:00.001-07:00

Dustin had one of those birthdays this year that seemed to last about 2 weeks. We celebrated his actual birthday in Colorado on the 24th of March. For one of his presents we went snowboarding at Copper mountain together, along with our brother in law Gabe. The conditions were perfect!! It was the most beautiful day and we pretty much had the mountain to ourselves.

If you look real close you can see the sick grab by Dustin on the half pipe. He is the red spot on the left of the picture. I was pretty proud that I caught him in the act.

After our day on the slopes my parents wanted to take Dustin out to dinner. The whole family met at Costa Vida where we ate amazing food and had a custard cake (YUM!).

Ash and Jonah at the party.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny himself!

I can't actually remember the last time that my family was all together for Easter but this year was special.

=
Things were definitely different though since I wasn't the one looking for the eggs. But I guess we all have to grow up someday. It was really fun hiding the eggs and watching the kids run all over. They would get so excited!

Jonah: Showing me his 10 eggs!

Sadie

Noah and his basket

Fun in the Rockies!

2008-03-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got to go home (Colorado) after a year and half of being deprived for my brother Josh's wedding. We spent all day Friday at the church trying to get the cultural hall as perfect as possible for the reception. Everything turned out beautiful!

The bride and groom could not have been happier and the party was a blast. My new sister in law is wonderful!

She is from El Salvador so the ceremony was in spanish,
which made things a tad difficult for Dustin and I and the others who aren't so much bilingual.

The best part of the reception was definitely the
dancing. The music ranged from spanish punk
rock to salsa. There is nothing better!

Surprise Dustin!

2008-03-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

March 15th I decided to throw a surprise party for Dustin. He was so surprised and everything came together so well! Thanks to everyone you came and especially to those who helped with food, decorating, and the venue (Leanne and Ryan, thanks guys!).

"Take me out to the ballgame"

2008-03-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Well, many of you know my obsession with baseball so it may be no surprise how Dustin and I decided to spend last weekend. We decided to drive down to Arizona to watch our teams play during spring training. I may have to admit it was one of the best weekends I have ever had! I would not have changed a single thing about it!!

Padres v. Rangers: Padres Win! 9-5

Rockies v. Giants: Rockies Win! 10-2

The happy Padres Fan!

We got to hang out right next to the bullpen!
Ashley was a little star struck.

Wild Flowers

2008-03-05T19:13:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we decided to take another adventure to the
Newport Beach area and hiked the reserve. It was beautiful!
The wild flowers were awesome and the weather was super
misty and foggy. Very romantic. :)

My favorite flowers!

Look at the big dork!

The craziest flowers I have ever seen!

Here is Dustin's addition to our blog... It was like watching animal planet! :)

My Superman!

2008-03-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

Some of you have been asking about my nephew Noah and how his chemo treatment is going. For those of you who don't know Noah was diagnosed with Leukemia about 6 months ago and has been undergoing intense chemotherapy sessions for the last little while. He is such a little trooper though. His last treatment was 7 hours but he and his mom had some good mother son bonding time. :) With these last few treatments they finally had to shave off his hair. He was a little unnerved at first but now he's quite proud of it. His classmates at school and church were amazingly accepting and loved the superman tatoos that his daddy put on his head. He is definitely the coolest kid in school! :)

It's that time...

2008-02-26T20:19:00.000-08:00

Ok... too many people have been on my case about really getting a blog started. I did actually start one way back in October but neglected to tell anyone about it because it was pretty pitiful. So here we go, I am jumpin' on the bandwagon.

We finally had a sunny day in Oceanside and decided to bust out a mad game of horseshoes. Look at that form!

Dustin has been trying to get me to go mountain biking for a very long time. I hadn't ridden a bike since 7th grade (sad huh!) because of an unfortunate accident (I love you Stoker! :) )

We went to Penasquitos preserve. It was a gorgeous day and not a cloud in the sky.

2007-10-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the exotic land of Bali! It was my first experience in this cultural and somewhat crazy place! Our trip was full of surfing, scuba diving, golfing, exploring, visiting muslim temples, massages, getting our scooter keys stolen by monkeys, and bartering. It was definitely an adventure never to be forgotten!

2007-10-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

What better place to start true love than at Hires?! And my goodness, look at those arms! How could I not fall for that? Though it all began by me being prostituted by my own brother I would never change a thing! :)